Disney Junior TV ‘Doc McStuffins’ Is A Hit For The Network

Disney Junior TV 'Doc McStuffins' Is A Hit For The Network

We try, as best we can, to cover everything involving black images in the media. But of course we’re only human and some things will slip by us. And since we’re all adults here it’s not that surprising that only now did we find out about the hit TV show Doc McSnuffins

Who’s Doc McStuffins? Why she’s only the biggest hit for the Disney Junior cable channel which is aimed at pre-schoolers 2 through 5. The show is also broadcast on the Disney Channel as well.

The show is centered on a young 6 year old black girl (voiced by TV actress Kiara Muhammad) whose mother is a doctor. Hoping to follow her mother’s profession, Doc opens up her own clinic treating her dolls and stuffed animals. As she says in the show: “I haven’t lost a toy yet”

Since its debut in March the show has been a ratings smash for the network pulling in an average of almost 920,000 regular viewers and has already been renewed for a second season. And, of course, there’s the merchandising of the show as well with Doc McSnuffins dolls.

The success of the program, which has several African-American writers and animators working on the show, is a source of pride and relief to Disney which is the past has had a long history of racial stereotyping in its films and programming. That is if you ever saw any black people at all in a Disney film or TV show.

Not surprisingly black parents have been praising the show and spreading the word around on blogs and Facebook to encourage support and more viewers. One mother wrote: “It truly warmed my heart and almost brought tears to my eyes when my 8 year old saw Doc McStuffins for the first time and said ‘Wow, mommy, she’s brown'”

And one Dallas black doctor Myiesha Taylor wrote on her blog that: “This program featuring a little African-American girl and her family is crucial to changing the future of the nation’

Well O.K. I admit that’s a bit extreme. I would think that President Obama and the First Family would have done that. But I suppose when you’re starving a cracker is a meal.

But nevertheless it’s good to see a show like this succeeding so well and it’s about as far as Love and Hip Hop as you can get.